Gypsys
The Gypsys: The band that started it all. Were it not for a group of high school friends meeting together one Wednesday night to record an improvised jam session (and the veracity of one of its members to record and document everything), then the RockLords may not have even happened. Recording everything they play, including 60% of tracks being made up on the spot, they are prolific in a vibrant mix of clever improvisation, comedy, and musical mess. Their membership is ever increasing, adopting the motto once a Gypsy, always a Gypsy, beginning with eight members on their first album and growing to over 50 currently. When band founders Kerry Logan and Richard Allen met together in late 1993 to play guitar together, they hatched the idea to meet again the next night with as many musicians as they could find. Wednesday, the 25th of August, 1993 saw the first jam session of a group that Kerry would later name the Gypsys. After several such sessions, the group had enough material to put out their first album on tape (no less), the now defunct Nine Improvised Sessions. They continued to meet and periodically release albums before the group morphed into their more purposeful incarnation, Cynosure, and then had their final jam in January 1997. Several years later, after uncovering a mysterious 1999 jam, the band reformed releasing its first proper album G8, as well as re-releasing all its back catalog. Since their reformation in 2004, the Gypsys have released 13 albums, one llive album, one EP, and two Hits compilations. They were not considered a live band in their early years, but now mix live performances with improvised sessions, recording everything and adding members continuously. They are sometimes amazing, sometimes rough, always interesting, and without them, their would be no RockLords. History blah Live: Beyond the RockLords Universe The line between what constitutes a live performance and a improvised jam session is often quite blurred within the history of the Gypsys. Certainly, when they reached their second incarnation from 1999 onward, their sessions are largely indistinguishable from live shows, as they often begin their performances for live audiences with a solid improvised session, before breaking into the obligatory live covers set. This pattern of performance is similarly present in their early years, but there was also a large number of specifically organised jams with largely only the musicians present, focused on generating more material. Whatever the method for their live existence, each performance largely operates the same: no predetermined set, and an eventual repertoire that comes from the whim of the band or the requests from the audience. Their first live offering was, as all things of the era, captured and released - the patchy Live at the LeslieDome. This May 1995 gig is still the only full live rendering from the band, but is still an excellent rendering of the band and how they handled live performances during their first era. The concert begins at a leisurely pace, starting with some warm up songs and a lack of fanfare, before breaking into as many popular covers as the band can handle. Improvised numbers from these first generation performances are few and far between and seem to happen accidentally, like Chicken and Les in the Middle, two stand out (if you can call them that) offerings from that session. Included are Gypsys standards like their own Am, Wendy, and Not Here With You or their Big Bad Sad Boys cover of The Blues Song, or small incidental pieces like Warm Up and Bob's Bit. accompanying this is a number of covers which the band play blaringly until, usually, it is suggested they shut down before Noise Control does it for them. Their next two live shows were along a similar vein, although now their craft was more established and they had the confidence to perform far longer and to include more musicians into the fray. Both September 1995's Blue Storm Breakup and January 1996's G-Man's 21st are examples of the group being able to play for a number of hours, attempting with varying degrees of success to replicate both popular covers, versions of their own classics, or create new pieces from out of nowhere, all while looking after their party-going audience as best they can. Blue Storm were a basketball team formed up of some of the same member, or similar friendship groups, as the Gypsys, so having the band celebrate their inaugural season was a unsurprising move. Their was a large number of covers and only a few originals, none of them of sufficient enough quality to appear on Gypsys VI, the corresponding album of that time. The whole concert exists on recording, as does G-Man's 21st, but has yet to be released. G-Man, or Gareth Cooke, was celebrated at the beginning of 1996 by the Gypsys in a jam session that lasted well over four hours, although some could argue the band actually played on and off for some twelve hours during that day. His 21st stands out because of the sheer number of improvised tracks that exist on the album Gypsys VII. The Chip Song, Shade, Spoon, G-Man's Theme (featuring the honoured Gareth himself in a song he wrote), Gibraltar, Bliss Wi' Chris, and Beachland Swing all survived and were of a high enough quality to make the VII album. This party started a run of 21st's (Leslie's from the previous year notwithstanding) that formed the backbone of the Gypsys' live run before they began to morph into the more focused Cynosure. Baz's 21st in February, and both Kezza's and Bevan's 21sts in March, all followed a similar pattern to that of the Blue Storm Breakup, an majority of covers with only a few small nods to the Gypsys past and future catalog. Only Bev's 21st yielded anything of note, both Beautiful and Try This One making the Gypsys VII album. By now the writing was on the wall for the Gypsys as they had now gotten so big as to bring about the formation of the more focused and driven RockLords effort of Cynosure. Feeling that the group of friends could not sustain two musical endeavours, the Gypsys fell away as all effort was pushed into the new group. The final two 21st's - Bevan's and Kezza's - are largely considered Cynosure performances as they fall after the band's formation and recording of the album at the start of March and feature Cynosure tracks in their lineup. The final jam came strangely in the RockLords' only overseas performance to date, their January 1997 jam session at Brennie's Stag Do. Brendan McCarten, Gypsy and vivid RockLords supporter, was getting married and with both Kerry and Bobby flying over to Brisbane, and Shay in attendance, it seemed natural to have a jam session. It was captured on a dodgy tape recorder and made its way into the Gypsys archives, only a cover of Johnny B. Goode making it onto the then final album. Things get messy now as the rampant recording of all RockLords material and movements began to slow. During 1999 Cynosure ran out of momentum and by June of that year has ceased to be. While Shift would rise from from its ashes, the wider group began to relax in their music. Two celebrations that year - Bevan's 24th in March and Bob's 21st in September - were recorded roughly without any real intent, as the Cynosure breakup had taken some of the wind out of the archivists Kerry's sails. The latter of those two sessions would only be retrieved in the late part of 2018 for Bob's 40th, given as a present to Bobby, but still remains unreleased. The early of those two shows, however, would set the tone for the live offerings of the group going forward into their second incarnation. Rediscovered some time in 2003, the March 1999 jam served as a reawakening of the Gypsys as it contained a number of excellent improvisations. It sparked a new focus of the group, taking opportunities for friend's events, birthday's, Boxing Day celebrations, and such, and recording them. The new jam sessions served both as improvisations followed by a run of covers. The wider group of friends would simply sit about and listen to the half hour or longer indulgences of the band, before the group called it a night and began running through a relatively standard list of covers for everyone to sing along to. This then became largely the pattern for the band's second existence. The Gypsys have never been a conventional live act, preferring to perform for friends and family only, and relying on a setlist that materialises out of thin air. They survive creatively by improvising along the way lest they be swallowed by requests for the inevitable standards of Enter Sandman and Smells Like Teen Spirit, using their time together to generate as much material as they can. With little looking like it will change in the near future, the Gypsys will continue to exist in this fashion, sneaking opportunities to perform whilst stealing precious moments of those performances to indulge their own creative senses. It is, after all, the fuel for the RockLords' fire, the reason for the larger group's existence, and dam good fun. Stylemaster: Musical Style The benefit of never ousting members and rotating them in and out of the band's lineup, as the Gypsys are wont to do, is that you are constantly bringing in new ideas and styles, all of which stand to enhance the music output of the group. That said, the group is essentially gathered around the music influences of the Starting Five: Kerry, Bobby, Richard, Mark, and Andrew. Their core starting point for their musical direction, while each having their own flavour, revolve around a early-90's inspired grunge-metal disposition, with smaller influences creeping in. The earliest recordings, largely comprising of the tracks from Gypsys I, tend towards a very grunge sound, with heavy blues flavours added to the mix. Tracks like Nothing Like a Jam, Travelling Music, and the obvious Blues Jam and Blues Jam - The Final contribute to this, led chiefly by Kerry's penchant for Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Probably the biggest track from this album, the simply named Am, follows this same idea. Mark's piano virtuosity, however, pulls the early band in different directions, namely through Golden Fingers, and it is clear from the album that there is a band fighting to emerge from these sessions. The next two albums, Gypsys II and III, begin to take a slight turn by aiming more in a established direction, firstly by cementing their style in a kind of improvisational grunge, and secondly by seeing them attempt more regularly to write complete songs with dynamic range and musical narrative. The Wake Up Call and Insane serve as an early attempt to stay in the same riff but to be able to shift the song's dynamics. You Must Walk Alone and Winter, however, attempt the same thing, but with a quiet demeanour. It also showcases early examples of improvisational songwriting, present in Beliefs, Superman, and arguably the Gypsys best song, Not Here With You. Gypsys III carries this on with Evil, Wendy, and Maiden, while tracks like The Caverns and Mage's Playground bring in heavy use of effects to enhance the musical narrative. Gypsys IV was a slight departure from this guitar-driven style as they saw the return of Mark's piano contributions after last seeing him for Gypsys I. While the same ideas of grunge/blues-improv still persisted, Mark brought a class and experience to the music which was still missing. Although he only appears for a handful of tracks, like Good Times and Wooden Man, his influence demands the band become smarter and more professional about their approach, whilst still being the Gypsys. Legend and Ether Sailing show a group growing from their two-chord origins into a band that is looking to use the chords to marry to a set of sounds and ideas, and this is further explored when Mark is again present in Gypsys V with Car Chase and Brief Encounter. By the time the band is finishing their first run together with Gypsys VI and VII, songs like Bev's Awesome Keyboard Day, Gibraltar, Beautiful, Bliss Wi' Chris, and Triad show a group very aware of their talents. Never far away is the comedy that is ever present not just in their music but their friendships. The first two or three albums is riddled with inbetween sound bites where the band members routinely harrass each other (Gypsys I is predominately this), but this comedy transfers more into the music as their progress through their time together. The aforementioned Wendy, Superman, and offerings like Red Shoes and The Chip Song help keep this flame alive. This is perhaps best seen in their Live at the LeslieDome recording of Chicken, a brutally questionable song with perhaps a larger legacy that it deserves, but it is one that shows the band at its heart: a grunge-improv band designed more around friends than it is musical excellence. The second incarnation of the Gypsys is a more robust, more creative, indeed more experienced version of their former selves. While the Gypsys gave birth to Cynosure, the more focused group then in turn gave life and all of its lessons of music back to the Gypsys. Even in the earliest recordings for G8, tracks like Back in Force, Big As, and the redo of the classic Am show a group who is vastly smarter at what they do. The Dark Rider, New Walk, and Ripples in the Mind add to this new story. By the time Nine Lives arrives, the band is now improvising with purpose. Counting to Seven on One Hand, Roboto Destroys the World, and The Life Everlasting who no signs of slowing down. Decimate is perhaps an example of the band extending themselves a little too far as it breaks the rhythm they have set from the previous albums. While Eight Nation Army and Holy Fire are strong, the rest of the album seems forced. The band returns, however, back to bring more of its best with both The 1st XI and Zodiac, both heavily featuring Mark. Swift, SE7EN, Peace, Walks With a Fist, Patchworks, Poppy, and Signs all show a band at the top of their game, while Polar Pop Bear shows just how good they can be when they focus. Their first EP, Mummified Hedgehog and Cat Skeleton, and their thirteenth album Triskaidekaphobia are perhaps a rung or two lower than the previous two albums, but they serve to show that the Gypsys have become a group that has learnt how to stick together, to watch and listen to each other, and prepared to try things in order to find the right combinations. Contributions like His Proggy Riffs show what it looks like when it doesn't work and that only adds to the magic. Legacy: How They Will Be Remembered blah Origins: The Meanings blah Band Members While the group consists of 36 members from 1993 to the present, and a larger number of associated members beyond that, the group has a core five key personnel that are often present in every session and have played in a large majority of the band's collection of music. Each name has how many Gypsys' tracks the musician has been involved in out of the band's 229 individual tracks. The Starting Five: *Kerry Logan: (218 tracks) Guitar with Bass, Vocals, Keyboard, Drums, Trumpet, and Trombone - joined 25th August, 1993 *Bobby Logan: (173) Drums with Vocals - joined 12th March, 1994 *Richard Allen: (103) Guitar with Bass and Vocals - joined 25th August, 1993 *Mark Weir: (84) Piano and Keyboard with Drums and Vocals - joined 25th August, 1993 *Andrew "Baz" McLoughlin: (76) Bass with Guitar and Vocals - joined 25th August, 1993 Other Gypsys Contributors: *Corey Brooks: (14) Bass with Vocals - joined 26th December, 2008 *Joseph Broughton: (9) Drums - joined 2nd October, 1994 *David Vink: (8) Bass with Guitar and Vocals - joined 25th August, 1993 *Grant Hanson: (8) Dums - joined 19th March, 2006 *Ant Davies: (7) Drums with Vocals - joined 25th March, 1993 *Gareth Cooke: (6) Guitar - joined 12th August, 1995 *Brendan McCarten: (6) Guitar with Bass, Vocals, and Harmonica - joined 19th June, 1995 *Chris ???: (6) Bass - joined 6th January, 1996 *Shane Reid: (5) Guitar with Keyboard - joined 8th May, 1994 *Richard Brewer: (4) Drums - joined 28th January, 1994 *Simon Perry: (4) Vocals - joined 5th May, 1995 *Bevan Johnson: (4) Bass with Vocals - joined 5th May, 1995 *Bradley Chapman: (4) Guitar - joined 20th May, 1995 *Josef Bull: (4) Drums with Bass and Vocals - joined 24th June, 1995 *Shay Markby: (4) Bass - joined 4th January, 1996 *Neil Hearn: (4) Bass - joined 10th March, 2007 *Karl Stubberfield: (3) Drums - joined 13th November, 1994 *Matthew Henderson: (3) Keyboards - joined 10th March, 2007 *Mark Spicer: (2) Vocals - joined 5th May, 1995 *Mike Edward: (2) Vocals - joined 6th January, 1996 *Clive Cullen: (2) Bass - joined 26th December, 2004 *Genevieve Allen: (2) Vocals - joined ??? *Sally Hoogeveen: (1) Bass - joined 27th November, 1994 *Jack McCarten: (1) Vocals - joined 24th June, 1995 *Hollie Weir: (1) Vocals - joined ??? *Glen Drake: (1) Vocals - joined 6th January, 1996 *Marcus ???: (1) Vocals - joined 6th January, 1996 *Bec Cowley: (1) Vocals - joined 6th January, 1996 *Kristy Logan: (1) Drums - joined 26th December, 2004 *Antony Jones: (1) Vocals - joined 26th December, 2004 *Daryl Sparks: (1) Vocals - joined 26th December, 2004 Additional Musicians and Friends of the Gypsys * List Discography The following list of albums came into being after the conversion of the ''Gypsys ''back catalog into .mp3 form in 2003 at ''Knox Studios. Prior to this, the albums had been released in different forms during the time on cassette tape for the band members. It wasn't until 2004 that they were re-released in the following formats (originally on therocklords.com).'' The group release albums after a number of jam sessions whenever they have accumulated enough for one. Their recorded then almost serve as a sort of musical diary of the group. The resulting sessions are often mixed up among the record. What is presented here is a direct discography. For more detail on the individual sessions, refer to the albums themselves. The First Incarnation of the Gypsys (1993-1997) * Gypsys I (1994) * Gypsys II (1994) * Gypsys III (1995) * Gypsys IV (1995) * Live at the LeslieDome (1995) - Live album * Gypsys V (1995) * Gypsys VI (1996) * Gypsys VII (1997) * The Greatest of the Hits (1997) - Greatest Hits of the First Era The Second Incarnation of the Gypsys (1999-present) * G8 (2006) * Nine Lives (2006) * Decimate (2010) * The 1st XI (2011) * Zodiac (2014) * The Awesomest of the Hits (2014) - Greatest Hits of the Second Era to date * Mummified Hedgehog and Cat Skeleton EP (2014) * Triskaidekaphobia (2016) The Gypsys also released a number of tape compilations during their first era, as previously mentioned. The albums are as follows: * Nine Improvised Sessions (1994) - also known as Nona Extempore Plenary * Put The Drums in the Garage (1994) * The Tale (1995) * Untitled (1997) Key Dates * Tuesday, 24th August 1993: Richard Allen arrives at Kerry Logan's house for a jam session. They conceive of the idea of doing the same thing the next night while everyone is back from University. * Wednesday, 25 August 1993: The First Ever Gypsys Jam * Saturday, 13 November 1993: The Travelling Music Jam * Saturday, 29 January 1994: The Am Jam * Saturday, 12 March 1994: The Out of Time Jam * Friday, 1 April 1994: Gypsys I * Sunday, 8 May 1994: The Insane Jam * Sunday, 15 May 1994: The Wake Up Call/Tribute Jam * Saturday, 16 July 1994: The Not Here With You Jam * Sunday, 25 September 1994: The Lounge Room Revisited/Hillbilly Jam * Sunday, 2 October 1994: The Beliefs/Joseph Jam * Tuesday, 1 November 1994: Gypsys II * Sunday, 13 November 1994: The Maiden/Karl Jam * Sunday, 27 November 1994: The Existing Sublime/Sally Jam * Saturday, 17 December 1994: The Wendy/Caverns Jam * Monday, 26 December 1994: The Good Times Jam * Sunday, 1 January 1995: The Bananas in Pyjama/Acoustics Jam * Sunday, 1 January 1995: Gypsys III * Tuesday, 3 January 1995: The Tale/Legend Jam * Saturday, 4 February 1995: The Ether Sailing/Cricket Jam * Wednesday, 1 March 1995: Gypsys IV * Saturday, 6 May 1995: Live at the LeslieDome * Saturday, 20 May 1995: The Brief Encounter/Car Chase Jam * Thursday, 1 June 1995: Live at the LeslieDome * Monday, 19 June 1995: The Tasman Jam * Tuesday, 20 June 1995: The Family Style Jam * Saturday, 24 June 1995: The Catfish Blues/Pit Patter Jam * Saturday, 12 August 1995: The Canada Jam * Saturday, 26 August 1995: The 2:33/Better Late Than Never Jam * Friday, 1 September 1995: Gypsys V * Saturday, 14 October 1995: Blue Storm Breakup * Tuesday, 17 October 1995: The BAKD Jam * Sunday, 22 October 1995: The Bev on Bass Jam * Saturday, 11 November 1995: The Sweet Earth Jam * Saturday, 25 November 1995: The Farmer Jam * Friday, 1 December 1995: The Farmer Recording Session * Thursday, 4 January 1996: The Farewell/Funeral Jam * Saturday, 6 January 1996: G-man's 21st * Thursday, 11 January 1996: The Flighless Bird Session * Thursday, 1 February 1996: Gypsys VI * Saturday, 3 February 1996: Baz's 21st * Saturday, 16 March 1996: Kezza's 21st * Saturday, 30 March 1996: Bevan's 21st * Saturday, 31 August 1996: The Jamshed/Purge Practice * Sunday, 29 September 1996: The Second Not Here With You Jam * Friday, 6 December 1996: The Jason's Shed Jam * Tuesday, 24 December 1996: Christmas Eve Party * Tuesday, 31 December 1996: Opunake Coastal Riders Soundcheck * Saturday, 11 January 1997: Brendan's Stag Do * Saturday, 1 February 1997: Gypsys VII * Monday, 25 August 1997: The Greatest of the Hits * Saturday, 13 March 1999: The Return of the Gypsys Jam! * Saturday, 4 September 1999: Bobby's 21st * Sunday, 26 December 2004: The Boxing Day/Flash Gordon Jam * Saturday, 19 March 2005: The Dark Rider/Bev's Birthday Jam * Sunday, 19 March 2006: The Roboto/Brutal Deluxe Jam * Saturday, 1 April 2006: G8 * Saturday, 24 June 2006: The Counting to Seven/Life Everlasting Jam * Friday, 22 December 2006: Nine Lives * Saturday, 10 March 2007: The Knox Jam * Friday, 26 December 2008: The Electronic Drum Kit with Corey Jam * Saturday, 26 September 2009: The Electronic Drum Kit without Corey Jam * Thursday, 1 October 2009: Decimate * Sunday, 2 January 2011: The First XI Jam in Kurt's Shed * Tuesday, 1 March 2011: The 1st XI * Saturday, 22 December 2012: The Mono Bob's Shed Jam * Saturday, 4 January 2014: The Stereo Bob's Shed Jam * Wednesday, 19 March 2014: Zodiac * Saturday, 23 August 2014: The Awesomest of the Hits * Sunday, 9 November 2014: Mummified Hedgehog and Cat Skeleton EP Distant Future: What Comes Next? The band's first incarnation ended with the metamorphosis into a new group, Cynosure. The group, however, did not have albums as such to speak of, so the discography can be slightly misleading, given that the albums weren't packaged until 2003, around the time that they had uncovered the beginning material for G8. The second incarnation then had the opportunity to not only look back, but forward and start planning jam sessions in order to create more material. The sessions tended to follow either friend's celebrations or Mark's return from England more than anything else. Those two conditions still apply, so there seems no shortage of possibilities for more Gypsys material. The reality, however, may be that such jam sessions coupled with live performances to the gathered groups of friends are dwindling. The last handful of such gatherings, since the recording of Triskaidekaphobia, have yielded very little in terms of new material, almost as if the energy was lacking. To date, Mark will be returning in January of 2019 and this may present an opportunity or it may not, it is yet to be organised. It may be, however, that a new era of Gypsys music is close. It may be a return to the organised jam sessions, as opposed to squeeze improvisations out of covers evenings. There is certainly an intent to record more music, although we are currently waiting on Kerry to finish his massive recording project. Time will tell whether we see the second incarnation of the Gypsys reborn, dwindle, or continue on as is. Links and Such Album Links * Gypsys I * Gypsys II * Gypsys III * Gypsys IV * Live at the LeslieDome * Gypsys V * Gypsys VI * Gypsys VII * The Greatest of the Hits * G8 * Nine Lives * Decimate * The 1st XI * Zodiac * The Awesomest of the Hits * Mummified Hedgehog and Cat Skeleton (EP) * Triskaidekaphobia